January 10, 2021 -- At this moment in time, we aren’t sure how much more we can take. We know that in time we will heal, but right now we are overwhelmed.

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Intellectually we know that with the sheer volume of lives we take in and the fact that they are either infirmed, abused, neglected or physically impaired in some way, that their lives will be shorter than we hope.

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But our hearts are different. Each life lost is devastating. And today is no different.

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Today we say ‘Good Bye’ to our dear sweet Turkey-Girl, Daphne.

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Daphne came to us around Thanksgiving 2018 as part of a factory farm rescue. Daphne was 7 months old and not intended to live any longer than that. She was to be slaughtered the day after she was rescued. Daphne was genetically engineered to grow fast and big, to yield the most meat by her slaughter at 7 months. The tip of her beak was cut off and the tips of her toes were severed. In the factory farm they were kept in very close quarters and this prohibits them from ‘damaging the meat’ of another turkey with their beak or nails.

Her life was a nightmare from the very beginning.

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But she was rescued and brought here (along with two other turkey-girls) to live out the rest of her life in safety, love, and peace.

She was so large that we immediately put her (and her ‘sisters’) on a diet to reduce the weight her little legs were carrying. She suffered two bouts of bumble-foot (the first-time requiring surgery). She was currently on pain medication for the second battle. But she seemed like she was doing well.

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Despite all this, Daphne was the sweetest of the girls. She was friendly and loving. She and Kathy bonded the first day she was here and remained ‘Kathy’s girl’.

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This afternoon she was discovered in her house…. gone. She seemed fine during the day and this came as a total and utterly devastating surprise.

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Good-bye sweet sweet girl.